WARRINGTON Wolves booked a Challenge Cup semi final place against Hull FC courtesy of a dominant victory over Huddersfield Giants.

Wolves raced away to their eight consecutive win against Huddersfield at a sun-kissed Halliwell Jones Stadium, extending a winning Challenge Cup record against Huddersfield that stretches back nine games and 77 years to the Wembley defeat back in 1933.

Wembley was the word on Wolves’ supporters lips as they watched their side overcome a brief first half fight back to run out comfortable winners, with Giants only briefly looking capable of pulling off a result in a game that was dominated by Wolves’ superb attacking play.

Tony Smith had promised to get an improvement from his side after the nail-biting win over Leeds and he got it, with tries from Paul Wood, Micky Higham, Trent Waterhouse and Chris Riley opening a 20-0 lead after as many minutes.

Giants fought back to 20-12 before the break in their best spell of the match, but one either side of half time from Joel Monaghan and further tries from Lee Briers and Garreth Carvell ensured that Jermaine McGilvary and Scott Grix’s tries at the death were merely consolation.

Both sides had offered up possession to each other a little too willingly in the opening exchanges, though Wolves had perhaps shaded a hard-fought start by earning a drop-out off Stefan Ratchford’s high bomb. Ultimately though it was Giants’ generosity that left them with a mountain to climb after only 20 minutes, with their handling mistakes leading almost directly to all three of Wolves’ tries in the first quarter.

First, Craig Kopczak’s knock on relieved the pressure from a Giants penalty and allowed Wolves to attack on 10 minutes, leading to the opening try of the afternoon. It came off the back of some sublime handling from two of Wolves’ experienced heads, with Ben Westwood exchanging lightning-quick passes with Lee Briers before holding off a tackle and slipping the supporting Paul Wood over between the posts. Hodgson added the extras.

Giants continued to capitulate, with Shaun Lunt’s knock on soon after the restart handing the impetus back to the home side, who were clinical when given the chance. Luckily Paul Wood’s wayward pass was judged to have been knocked out of the air and from the resultant play Ratchford’s pass sent Trent Waterhouse crashing over on the left edge. Hodgson missed the kick.

A horror 20-minutes for Huddersfield was completed five minutes later after Chris Hill’s huge break up the middle of the field allowed the home side to open an 18-0 lead. Wolves thought they had lost the chance when Ratchford’s grubber was fielded by Jermaine McGilvary, but a tackle forced him to drop the ball and Micky Higham burrowed over from close range on the next play-the-ball. Hodgson stroked over the simple kick and Giants were reeling.

And it would get worse before it got better for Paul Anderson’s men. Simon Grix shrugged off the challenge of Leroy Cudjoe as he made a break up the left wing and as he cut inside Chris Riley was on hand to offer support. His dive beat the covering McGilvary and Wolves sat on a 20-0 lead once Hodgson had pushed the kick wide.

But if Wolves fans were celebrating having one foot in the semi finals, Giants were on hand to remind them that their team were still in a game. If the opening 25 minutes had been all about Wolves, the remainder of the half was Giants’ time to shine. As if they had been awoken by that fourth Wolves try, they responded in kind within a few minutes. Back-to-back penalties had given them the perfect platform to attack, and after Eorl Crabtree was held short, Lunt dug his way over to put his side on the board.

That kicked Giants into gear and Wolves were called in some scrambling defence on their line to keep Huddersfield from adding a second in as many minutes on the half hour. But try as they might they could not keep the visitors out. Dale Ferguson was the man to cut Wolves’ lead, bursting on to Luke Robinson’s fine pass to charge through Hodgson on his way to the line. The former Giants full back was hurt during the collision and he received treatment as Danny Brough further reduced Warrington’s lead.

This burst of activity had done its part to pour cold water over Wolves’ early exuberance, but there was still time in the half for Wolves to stoke up their fans before the break. It was Hodgson who provided the key break, shrugging off his injury to take an offload and fly through a gap, putting Chris Bridge free up the wing. Joel Monaghan was on hand to finish off the move, cutting inside to give Hodgson a simple chance to make it 26-12 at half time.

Giants needed a quick start after the break if they were to offer real resistance to Wolves’ march towards the semi final, but instead they once again handed Wolves a chance to extend their lead.

McGilvary’s knock on inside his own 40-metre line was a gift for the hosts, and like they did throughout their purple patch in the first quarter, Wolves made them pay. The ball was worked right through Ratchford and Briers and Chris Bridge brilliantly soaked up a tackle before slipping the ball underarm for Joel Monaghan to score his second. Hodgson added the extras to reopen the 20-point lead.

From that point Giants looked like a beaten side and Wolves, looking sparkling in attack and like anything they tried would come off, pushed on for two more tries in quick succession. The first was Briers at his cheeky best, setting up as if to kick high and wide on the last tackle, only to grubber kick through with the outside of his boot to find no one home in defence. Then Carvell went over for only his second try of the season, finishing off some wonderful offloading from Ben Currie and Hodgson after barrel-rolling through a tackle next to the line. Hodgson was on target with both kicks and Wolves were cruising with a 44-12 lead.

After that Wolves looked content to try and keep Giants at bay, and despite the fact that McGilvary and Scott Grix crossed in the final moments, Wolves path to the semi final was never really in doubt.

Wolves: Brett Hodgson; Joel Monaghan, Simon Grix, Chris Bridge, Chris Riley; Lee Briers, Stefan Ratchford; Paul Wood, Micky Higham, Chris Hill, Trent Waterhouse, Ben Westwood, Mike Cooper. Subs: Adrian Morley, Michael Monaghan, Garreth Carvell, Ben Currie.

Giants: Scott Grix; Jermaine McGilvary, Leroy Cudjoe, Joe Wardle, Aaron Murphy; Danny Brough, Luke Robinson; Larne Patrick, Shaun Lunt, Craig Kopczak, Brett Ferres, Ukama Ta’ai. Michael Lawrence. Subs: Eorl Crabtree, David Faiumu, Dale Ferguson, Anthony Mullally.